Product:Shoe Lift

Cost: $38

Country of Origin: Canada

Shoelifts, Shoelift.com, who has not heard of these heel lifts? For those of you that have not heard of this product or the company due to having your head buried underneath some sand here is a recap. Set up in 1989 and based in Toronto, Canada, Shoelift.com have had the longest internet presence of all heel lift / shoe lift companies. The Shoelift.com website (which now redirects to www.shoelifter.com) boldly announces that ‘OUR PRODUCTS ARE SIMPLY THE BEST’, so surely it must follow that the heel lift inserts offered are far and away the best, unmatched – right? Read on to find out.

About the Company

Shoelift.com advertises that it has nearly half a million satisfied customers – which must make it the largest manufacturer of heel lift inserts around. The company also runs promotions monthly in various cities around the world – check their website to see more details. From their glossy and professional website, the impression given is of a very professional company offering a variety of products. It is important to note that this is a review of the 2006 model of heel lift, the wedge that is NOT full length. Shoelift.com have a new adjustable full length wedge model out for 2007 which we have not tried yet. However they still market the older model as the main product on their website, so this review is still relevant.

Service – Time to Deliver

We ordered the 2 inch model from the website, and it arrived very soon after with us, with the delivery time at just under a week. The packaging of Shoelift’s is very simple, with the lifts themselves contained in a plastic wrapper with a piece of cardboard with ‘Shoelift.com’ printed on it – it’s nice and simple. The outer packaging however is a little bit flimsy . it was just a brown paper baggy envelope with the address slapped on the front. By the time the package had arrived here the outer envelope was covered in rips and tears making it quite conceivable that the heel lift inserts could have fallen out during transit. Shoelift.com could easily make the package a lot better by adding a protective layer of bubble wrap around the lifts or by using a stronger external bag such as one made out of plastic. One thing I like about Shoelift.com is that they offer a 30 day money back guarantee – reassuring!

Initial Impressions

Upon taking the lift out of the packaging, the product looks and feels solid. It is definitely gives the impressions of being a mass produced, professional product. The rear of the heel lift has the shoelift.com company logo laser-etched onto it. The material of the lift itself is a type of very strong foam that has very little compression when squeezed with the fingers or, surprisingly, when all the weight of the body is on top of the lift.

So far so good then, the shoelift.com heel lift scores highly on initial looks and from the material it is made of. It even has a patented adhesive strip that secures the base of the lift to the shoe or boot that you will be placing it in. However, once the lift is placed into a shoe or boot, the problems begin. Since our lifts were 2 inches high, we chose boots to use with the lifts. Sure enough, the lifts added the extra height specified , but they were not comfortable – at all! We tried about 3 or 4 different boots and shoes to see if it was maybe a problem with the sole or shape of the footwear itself but every time we did the result was the same, the lifts give the feeling of a block of solid wood being stuck in your shoe. A small tin of baked beans would probably be more comfortable than using these things!

Design

The main problem with the design of Shoelifts is that it has an almost triangular shape with sharp angles between the part that supports the heel of the foot and the slope that guides foot arch onto the front of the shoe. The ridge that separates the slope and the heel support digs into the arch making for one thing – major discomfort after 5+ minutes! Perhaps if there was more of a gradual gradient beween these two surfaces then the heel lift would be a lot more comfortable, but as it stands, we honestly could not see ourselves wear these lifts for more than a day at most.

The length of the insert seems to be a lot shorter than comparable lifts  with it taking up only a third to a half of the shoe, which might be a factor in the way the lift is uncomfortable.

The shape of the lift seems more akin to a door wedge than an ergonomic mould that will support your foot all day. It is very conceivable that the smaller lifts such as the 1 inch variant will be a lot more comfortable than the 2 inch model we received since the slope on the lift will be a lot shallower . It seems like they have just developed the one inch model years ago and then added the different height models without giving any real consideration to the need to support the foot delicately over time.

We notice that Shoelift.com has recently added a gradual sloped, full length height shoe insert to its catalogue, perhaps aware of the problems with the later model.

Conclusion

If the problems with shoe lifts could be fixed then it is conceivable that later revisions of the model are a lot better. As it stands though, it is difficult to recommend shoe lifts especially since the price of them is a lot higher compared to other products on the market. They do however offer some of the tallest lifts on the market so it may be a good idea to get a some if you only want to wear them for a job interview or something similar for a short period of time. For long time usage though, it is difficult to recommend Shoelifts 2” heel lifts.

Solid, well made, but generally uncomfortable to wear.

6/10
Pros: Good build quality, long lasting, stylish, nigh-on impossible to tell that they are height increasing elevator shoes

Cons: Most of the product line look quite similar, more expensive than a normal shoe